O'Farrell over a barrel as the Shooters take aim

By Sean Nicholls

HUNTING in 29 national parks, relaxation of gun licensing laws and shooting as a school sport: these are some of the demands the Premier is about to be confronted with by the Shooters and Fishers Party, which now shares the balance of power in the NSW upper house.

As the make-up of the Legislative Council was decided yesterday, documents obtained by the Herald reveal the extent and cost of the shopping list likely to be presented to Barry O'Farrell as he tries to negotiate his legislation through the new Parliament.

Deadly serious ... Shooters Party MP Robert Borsak on safari in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

They show the Shooters and Fishers want access to at least 29 national parks for shooting of feral animals and deer.

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''These are just a few to start with,'' the party's MP Robert Brown writes in one of the documents used in negotiations with the former government. ''Some are big reserves out west where it would be great to get acces [sic] to pigs, goats, foxes & cats.''

Talking tough ... an email from the party to Nathan Rees and Eddie Obeid.

The wish list includes no more national parks or marine parks and removal of the 28-day cooling off period for licence renewals for firearms of the same category.

Introducing shooting as an official school sport is estimated to cost $1 million a year and the creation of private game reserves has a price tag of $500,000 attached to it.

The documents were used in negotiations between Mr Brown, the late Shooters Party MP Roy Smith and the Labor government. The cost of the policies was estimated at $94.3 million between 2007 and 2011.

Mr Brown was re-elected to the upper house last month to join Robert Borsak, who replaced Mr Smith after his sudden death last year.

Hunting list

The Shooters and Fishers hold the balance of power with the Christian Democratic Party, meaning the Coalition will be forced to rely on their votes to pass legislation opposed by Labor and the Greens. Mr Brown has signalled the reintroduction of his private member's bill to allow recreational hunting in national parks is his highest priority.

But while Mr O'Farrell has said he ''won't be doing any deals with any of the minor parties'' the documents reveal how heated talks became with the Labor government.

Borsak in Zimbabwe, where he shot a bull elephant.

In an email to the former premier Nathan Rees, the upper house MP Eddie Obeid and the disgraced former primary industries minister Ian Macdonald in 2008, Mr Brown complains about a proposed upgrade of Awaba and Heaton state forests on the NSW central coast to state conservation areas.

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''Macca … why didn't YOU tell me about this? You obviously knew,'' he writes. ''Of all the low down, back-stabbing pieces of work … this really takes the cake! On your head boys … on your heads.''